Real Madrid CF 2013/14

Cristiano Ronaldo: This referee is not ready for these kind of games."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "We played against 12. It's always the same. They don't allow us. Maybe they wanted Barça back in the Liga"
Cristiano Ronaldo: "I'm not looking for excuses, but this ref is not at the required level for a game like this."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "If Barcelona lost today, they would have been out of the race. After five years here I finally understand how things work."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "You (media) have been here for many years more than me. I have never seen RMA been favoured by the referees..."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "I'm sure that no matter all this, we will win the Liga"
Cristiano Ronaldo: "We are sad because we deserved more, but we're fine."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "They don't want us to win La Liga."

This guy.

Xavi: "The pitch was in poor condition"
Xavi: "The pitch was too dry"
Xavi: "We can't play on a pitch like this"
Xavi: "The pitch was a disgrace"
Xavi: "I like to swallow Busquets' testicles"
Xavi: "The pitch was unplayable"
Xavi: "The pitch was like a cow pasture"
Xavi: "The pitch was not up to our standard"

THE PITCH

Wether justified or not players crying about referees just sounds pathetic. I commend Ancelotti for not getting sucked into it and actually pointing out mistakes were were the major factor. Our pen was outside the box, not the first time this season Ramos has clipped a man through on goal and got himself sent off. An experience man like Alonso to put in such an unnecessary silly challenge on Iniesta is unacceptable. Yes Neymar makes the most of it but Ramos time and time again puts himself in these situations.

That bieng said I think we played ok, not our best but ok. The major positive(and negative on the night) for me is that in a big game where Ronaldo and Bale didn't do much we had Di Maria and Benzema step up. Barca however will be fighting relegation without Messi   

Cristiano wrote:Wether justified or not players crying about referees just sounds pathetic. I commend Ancelotti for not getting sucked into it and actually pointing out mistakes were were the major factor. Our pen was outside the box, not the first time this season Ramos has clipped a man through on goal and got himself sent off. An experience man like Alonso to put in such an unnecessary silly challenge on Iniesta is unacceptable. Yes Neymar makes the most of it but Ramos time and time again puts himself in these situations.

A review of Ramos red cards:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/23/sergio-ramos-19-real-madrid-red-cards

A lot of them seem to be two yellows, basically he seems to be too thick to change his style in order not to make risky tackles after he has received his first yellow.

hats of to you guys to be honest i thought you were the better team for most of the match, like carlo in the first leg, tata made a big tactical mistake in this leg, by starting neymar, which left alves totally exposed to di maria and ronaldo. which is why real got so much joy down that flank.

the tackle pedro made around the box when he came on, prefectly ilsulttrates why he should have started, exposing the offenses pluses.

if ronaldo and bale had come to play, you probably would have won,

hats off to benz, she should have stayed on instead of bale,

I won't complain about his two misses chances.

neymar and messi of all people missed too.

good game carlo. this is what the clasico should be about. too teams going for it

messiah wrote:hats of to you guys to be honest i thought you were the better team for most of the match, like carlo in the first leg, tata made a big tactical mistake in this leg, by starting neymar, which left alves totally exposed to di maria and ronaldo. which is why real got so much joy down that flank.

the tackle pedro made around the box when he came on, prefectly ilsulttrates why he should have started, exposing the offenses pluses.

if ronaldo and bale had come to play, you probably would have won,

hats off to benz, she should have stayed on instead of bale,

I won't complain about his two misses chances.

neymar and messi of all people missed too.

good game carlo. this is what the clasico should be about. too teams going for it

My eyes must be deceiving me. Messiah saying something positive about RM. You feeling ok?   

The problem with Undiano Mallenco is that he wants to be the protagonist. He wants the headlines. Not just in Madrid-Farsa matches but anytime. The guy is out of his mind. It's not that I don't want him to ref Madrid any more. He shouldn't be allowed to ref anyone any more. Ronaldo went too far alluding to a conspiracy but everyone should be complaining about Undiano Mallenco.

Cristiano wrote:

messiah wrote:hats of to you guys to be honest i thought you were the better team for most of the match, like carlo in the first leg, tata made a big tactical mistake in this leg, by starting neymar, which left alves totally exposed to di maria and ronaldo. which is why real got so much joy down that flank.

the tackle pedro made around the box when he came on, prefectly ilsulttrates why he should have started, exposing the offenses pluses.

if ronaldo and bale had come to play, you probably would have won,

hats off to benz, she should have stayed on instead of bale,

I won't complain about his two misses chances.

neymar and messi of all people missed too.

good game carlo. this is what the clasico should be about. too teams going for it

My eyes must be deceiving me. Messiah saying something positive about RM. You feeling ok?   

  . I have no problem giving praise when its due. real have jusr been average at best against any decent team over the years.

Jaime wrote:The problem with Undiano Mallenco is that he wants to be the protagonist. He wants the headlines. Not just in Madrid-Farsa matches but anytime. The guy is out of his mind. It's not that I don't want him to ref Madrid any more. He shouldn't be allowed to ref anyone any more. Ronaldo went too far alluding to a conspiracy but everyone should be complaining about Undiano Mallenco.

If you complain then you are giving him headlines.

Personally I had never heard of him until last night, burn  

Cristiano wrote:That bieng said I think we played ok, not our best but ok. The major positive(and negative on the night) for me is that in a big game where Ronaldo and Bale didn't do much we had Di Maria and Benzema step up. Barca however will be fighting relegation without Messi   

That is what I was thinking. Was very happy for both Di Maria and Benzema for this exact reason. Also because I'm tired of Ronaldo vs Messi and the extended version of Ronaldo+Bale vs Messi+Neymar. Of which only Messi did anything and that was due to picking up a ball in the box and two penalties. But good to see that Di Maria in midfield can work against a good team but also the way it worked. I like that we can actually create chances from crosses and we won't have to rely on Ronaldo not being selfish and feeding players in the box.

messiah wrote:hats of to you guys to be honest i thought you were the better team for most of the match, like carlo in the first leg, tata made a big tactical mistake in this leg, by starting neymar, which left alves totally exposed to di maria and ronaldo. which is why real got so much joy down that flank.

the tackle pedro made around the box when he came on, prefectly ilsulttrates why he should have started, exposing the offenses pluses.

if ronaldo and bale had come to play, you probably would have won,

hats off to benz, she should have stayed on instead of bale,

I won't complain about his two misses chances.

neymar and messi of all people missed too.

good game carlo. this is what the clasico should be about. too teams going for it

These post Mourinho era classicos will be dreadful and I can't see Ancelotti backing down.

at least no one can blame ZE GERMANS

Kroos wrote:at least no one can blame ZE GERMANS

  

Although it is ironic that Germans on this board and outside it have turned against the two players Real Madrid fans have been after for some years. Conclusion: Real Madrid are no good at buying Germans* or German players are overhyped.


*I liked Metzelder though

Sounds like there is a good chance that Casemiro will go at the end of the season. Sevilla one of the principal candidates. So bizarre the situation with Casemiro. He looked so good in preseason but he has barely gotten a sniff even with Khedira out. There haven't even been rumours of him being a bad professional, out partying too late or anything. Now Omar Mascarell has been called up for the match against Sevilla as well. If Omar plays ahead of Casemiro the writing might really be on the wall for the Brazilian.

Who will they blame today     

More silly mistakes, Alonso fucking around on the ball for the first one and Pepe getting done by a good skill but what the hell is he doing up there.

And the finishing  

What a disaster this week has been. A classic example of not taking your chances and then anything can happen as you run out of steam and ideas. The good thing is that we have one game(at Real Sociedad) but besides that our toughest games are at home(Osasuna+Valencia) so if we can win that away game then we are in a good spot but we have made it much harder now. Given Atletico's tough program I think we only have to worry about Barca slipping.

Cristiano wrote:Who will they blame today     

More silly mistakes, Alonso fucking around on the ball for the first one and Pepe getting done by a good skill but what the hell is he doing up there.

And the finishing  

Diego Lopez!!!!

Was a bad reaction following the clasico. The whole team was poor from what I read. Have to watch the match tonight to see for myself.

Jose: "I am a little surprised. I expected Real Madrid to be higher, with a greater advantage, because Barcelona have lost a more points than they have in the past three seasons."

Carletto: "He can have his opinion. But this year Real Madrid is fighting for the league title, something it was incapable of last year."



  

Well then, Marcelo is out too. Hamstring injury. Will miss the match against Dortmund and probably the final of the Copa del Rey.

who else is out

Very good performance I thought and a great result. There were a couple of spells where I thought the players were getting a little careless in the defensive third but apart from that it was a pretty commanding performance. Iker only had one or maybe two important saves to make (and one that he fumbled a little but Pepe bailed him out).

I thought Pepe was outstanding. Really really good stuff from him. I guess he should keep growing his hair out because it's the best he's looked since his first season in the team. Isco was also very good. Playing deeper but I thought he did just as much defensive work as Di Maria normally does. He took his goal well but he was all over the place. Modric of course was the other really outstanding performer. The guys is unbelievable. He could almost be Spanish the way he plays! He wins balls that Khedira did but it's what he does with the ball once he has it that makes such a difference from the team last year to this.

Probably could have scored a couple more. Not Benzema's night and Bale really messed up a couple of good counters.

Hopefully Ronaldo's injury isn't bad. We could really use him in Anoeta but I guess we'll see. There are some big matches in the not too distant future that we need him for.

Ok we got through a really tough away game in a way I couldn't have imagined. Was attending a wedding so I missed it but I was really surprised to see the result later on. Have seen the game since and I thought we did well. Benzema is getting more and more confident and he is starting to reach a plateau he hasn't reached since 2011 where he really was a invaluable player for us. I hope he continues the good form. Bale showed good form as well on the left where he finally got a chance. I have long suspected that Ancelotti didn't want to give Bale much of a chance on the left in fear that he might do so well that the media would start a stink about it. The defence held together well so now we could realistically expect to win the rest of the games and hope for the best. Illarramendi is getting integrated in the team albeit at a rather slow pace and I'm still not entirely convinced by his abilities. I can't see him replace either Modric or Alonso in the team but he can assist them when we need to pass it around which he helped the team do for a while in the second half.

Squad traveling to Dortmund:

Porteros: Casillas, Diego López y Jesús.
Defensas: Varane, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrão, Carvajal y Nacho.
Centrocampistas: Bale, Di María, Xabi Alonso, Casemiro, Modric, Isco, Illarra y José Rodríguez.
Delanteros: Morata, Benzema y Cristiano Ronaldo.

Not sure if Di Maria will be fit to start the match or if Ancelotti will opt for Isco or Illarra instead. No official word on Ronaldo. He did complete a light training session but I'm sure if he has traveled to Germany it is to play.

I wouldn't mind seeing Morata get some time again.  I might be wrong but something in him seems to have hardened after his initial breakthrough was followed by being on the sidelines. It could also just be his new haircut   

Morata is a really hard worker on the flank and our main problem with Dortmund has often been that they are experts at exposing the flanks and we voluntarily leave one flank completely undefended because Ronaldo doesn't track back. Even under Ancelotti there is a clear asymmetry in our defensive positioning that we can't get past. On the other hand I would like to see Bale again on the left which would entail Isco on the right. If Arbeloa was ready I would move Carvajal up to rightwing alas we are under non-progressive leadership so no hope for prudence

So what is up with Jose Rodriguez? Any good?

i bet if ronaldo had played you guys wouldnt have won so comfortably, time to sell him

I say give it a year and we will see what the situation is with him. Otherwise I think it is correct to wait until he is 31.
Then we can focus on playing more like a team. A shame Mourinho will never come back but I still hold for another progressive chapter with Benitez in the future.

Super Progress wrote:I wouldn't mind seeing Morata get some time again.  I might be wrong but something in him seems to have hardened after his initial breakthrough was followed by being on the sidelines. It could also just be his new haircut   

Morata is a really hard worker on the flank and our main problem with Dortmund has often been that they are experts at exposing the flanks and we voluntarily leave one flank completely undefended because Ronaldo doesn't track back. Even under Ancelotti there is a clear asymmetry in our defensive positioning that we can't get past. On the other hand I would like to see Bale again on the left which would entail Isco on the right. If Arbeloa was ready I would move Carvajal up to rightwing alas we are under non-progressive leadership so no hope for prudence

So what is up with Jose Rodriguez? Any good?

I think Ronaldo deserves some credit. Obviously he is not like Di Maria chasing the ball for 90 minutes but especially in big games I have seen making defensive runs back to help. Especially in the last league match against Atletico. Against Osasuna, yeah he probably can't be bothered at all.

Rodriguez was one (ok the only) of Jose's favorites in the cantera and got his debut in Copa del Rey last year. This year for Castilla he has basically been starting every match and he's only 19. He did really well in the friendly against PSG last summer. Box-to-box kind of guy. Reminds of a not shit Khedira.

Oh, and Ronaldo left training after only 20 minutes today.

Jaime wrote:

Super Progress wrote:I wouldn't mind seeing Morata get some time again.  I might be wrong but something in him seems to have hardened after his initial breakthrough was followed by being on the sidelines. It could also just be his new haircut   

Morata is a really hard worker on the flank and our main problem with Dortmund has often been that they are experts at exposing the flanks and we voluntarily leave one flank completely undefended because Ronaldo doesn't track back. Even under Ancelotti there is a clear asymmetry in our defensive positioning that we can't get past. On the other hand I would like to see Bale again on the left which would entail Isco on the right. If Arbeloa was ready I would move Carvajal up to rightwing alas we are under non-progressive leadership so no hope for prudence

So what is up with Jose Rodriguez? Any good?

I think Ronaldo deserves some credit. Obviously he is not like Di Maria chasing the ball for 90 minutes but especially in big games I have seen making defensive runs back to help. Especially in the last league match against Atletico. Against Osasuna, yeah he probably can't be bothered at all.

Rodriguez was one (ok the only) of Jose's favorites in the cantera and got his debut in Copa del Rey last year. This year for Castilla he has basically been starting every match and he's only 19. He did really well in the friendly against PSG last summer. Box-to-box kind of guy. Reminds of a not shit Khedira.

That is not true. In big games he is at best inconsistent with his pressing and defensive work. I remember in some classico's both he and Ozil were industrious for big parts. Aside from that he has let us down several times on this front and it has cost us. I don't even want him working as much as Di Maria* but could he give 30% more perhaps? Based on past important games(Bayern and Dortmund in particular) the answer is no

Jaime wrote:Oh, and Ronaldo left training after only 20 minutes today.

In May 2010 Lazio had to play Inter knowing that losing would give Roma a big leg up for the title. Lazio fans' response when Inter scored: